The Effect of Teaching Coping Skills on The Students Attitudes Towards Drug Abuse - Using Group Discussion

In this study, the effect of an educational intervention on the change and negativization of the students attitudes towards drug abuse was examined. The educational intervention involved 8 sessions of teaching coping skills that was conducted using agroup discussion procedure. The sample consisted of 559 students-first grade high school- students selected from 10 educational areas in Kerman province. To assess the studentsattitudes, a well-planned questionnaire was used and its validity and reliability was estimated by such procedures as test – retest, Crobach's Alpha, and construct validity with factor analysis. Results supported the hypothesis. That is, teaching coping skillsusing group discussion changed the students attitudes towards drugs. It also had a significant effect on negativization of the experimental group students attitudes (10 classes in 10 schools [n=282]) and the modification of the cognitive, emotional, andbehavioral dimensions of the attitude towards drug abuse.